MP - Oath of Stupid

[Mikeymike]

3
Creatures
1 Varchilds War-Riders
1 Questing Pheldagriff
1 Subterranean Spirit

15
Combo Pieces
4 Oath of Druids
4 Dingus Staff
4 Simoon
3 Mogg Infestation

20
Other helpers
2 Gaea's Blessing
4 Brainstorm
4 Living Wish
4 Counterspell
4 1 Blue Hard Counter of some sort or Dissipate
2 Congregate

22
1 Sol Ring
4 Trop Island
4 Taiga
3 Vol Island
3 Tundra
2 Savannah
2 Reflectin Pool
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire

Wish Pool
War-Riders
Both Pheldaggrifs
Utility Creatues, big beefy beatdown, etc.

The idea, get an Oath out, and then a token maker. Eventually the tokens will mount up to your favor so you can keep using the Oath, and once you get out a Dingus Staff you should be able to do some serious damage. A wacky way to make the Oath work.

 

[NorrYtt]

Aether Flash?

Something like Orim's Prayer, Propaganda, or Urza's Armor would give you insurance. In multiplayer, you can disguise your token generosity this way, and encourage them to kill off someone else, until you drop the 'staff and Simoon their team.

 

[Mikeymike]

AEther Flash isn't ideal b/c it kills their tokens immediately, not allowing me to take advantage of the Oath (but letting them use it). It does rock the house with Rider/Staff though that's for sure.

I'm trying to figure out a mass protector like Propaganda, Urza's Armor, etc. but the problem I'm having is that we usually play 2 Headed Giant, and the way we work the rules is so that things that say "blah blah done to you" don't affect both Heads. If I've got a Propaganda out, the opponent can just attack my teammate. Just as if I had a Hypnotic Spectre out, I have to choose which head to attack.

That's why I went with the Congregates, I figured life-gain would be just a good as well as much more surprising. Worship could work I suppose.

 

[Mikeymike]

OK fellas and fellettes (?), I'm going to build this deck this weekend.

Cards that I question.

Subterranean Spirit - He gives me the sweep ability I want, but he's kind of flimsy. Maybe Ashen Firebeast would be better, or Shard Phoenix. How about Crypt Rats since it hits flyers too?

Living Wish - yeah its nice in theory but it removes itself from the game so its not ideal with the Blessing. How about 1 Hippo and 3 Dueling Grounds instead?

Simoon and Mogg Infestation - I like both, but do I need so many?

4 Hard counter spot - should this be a counterspell or Ench/Art destruction?

Here is the updated deck, let me know what you think.

3
Creatures
1 Varchilds War-Riders
1 Questing Pheldagriff
1 Crypt Rats

16
Combo Pieces
4 Oath of Druids
4 Dingus Staff
3 Simoon
3 Dueling Grounds
2 Mogg Infestation

19
Other helpers
4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
3 Dismantling Blow
2 Soothsaying
2 Dissapate
2 Congregate (Spike Feeder?)
2 Gaea's Blessing (do I need 3?)

22
1 Sol Ring
1 Reflectin Pool
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Trop Island
4 Taiga
4 Tundra
3 Vol Island
3 Savannah

 

[rkoelsch]

What do you do if they oath up a fattie. Having never played oath I would worry about something like that.

 

[Mikeymike]

In theory the way its supposed to work is that I drop the Oath and I get a War-Rider and/or Hippo into play and start giving them tokens so they can't use the Oath effectively. I use the Crypt Rats during their turn, killing the 1/1's (and hopefully triggering the Staff). During my upkeep I'll activate the War-Riders CU and probably be able to Oath for the Crypt Rats again.

If they get fatties, Mogg Infestation helps a lot (solid card actually) as does dueling grounds. The Hippo is a very good blocker when he needs to be. Beyond that, I'm hoping Congregate can gain me ugly amounts of life.

EDIT - How about Vesuvan Doppleganger in here? I just picked up my first 1 not too long ago and I've been wanting to squeeze it into a deck.

 

[train]

I think 2 shard phoenix in place of the infestations would be nice... you get them back, over and over, and they work nicely with Sub Spirit - by the way, that boy rocks!!!

 

[Mikeymike]

The Infestation has got to stay - It allows me to deal with problem creatures and/or flyers (w/o targeting) without clearing my side of the board and it combos beautifully with Dingus Staff, which is probably the most important card in the deck.

I've got a Staff, a Hippo, an Oath, and the Crypt Rats out. My opponent has 3 big nasties and 4 tokens I was kind enough to give him.

I Mogg, dealing 14 damage to him and giving him 14 more 1/1's - I follow that up by Crypt Ratting for 1, dealing 29 more to him.

 

[Jigglypuff]

The problem with Crypt Rats is that you have NO sources of black mana. Remember...

Crypt Rats
{2}{B}
Creature -- Rat
1/1
{X}: Crypt Rats deals X damage to each creature and each player. Spend only black mana this way.

In addition, the Phoenix allows you to wipe the board clean even if you are forced to tap out. I'd definitely replace the Rats with the Phoenix and just take my chances with flyers.

EDIT: This deck could actually be rather cute in a free-for-all. I think I might build this deck and see how it works out, if that's okay with you, Mikey.

EDIT 2: Fixed a minor grammatical error.

(- Steve -)

 

[Mikeymike]

Spend only black mana this way...well that scrubs that one out. Between the Shard Phoenix and the Ashen Firebeast:
The beast is big, can do more than 2 points of damage and probably won't force me to take damage from the Staff
The Bird doesn't tie up my mana and can block flyers.

The Shard Phoenix it is

Steve, go right ahead and build the deck, I had free-for-all in mind. It looks like fun, huh? Just be careful of STP.

 

[NorrYtt]

With regard to the whole recur a creature to kill the 1/1's dilemma...I vote for Plague Dogs.

They just cost a single black mana if you hard-cast them, but you won't be doing that. It's a two mana sacrifice, but it gives -1/-1 and you draw a card. Since you aren't doing Spirit Link tricks, I like this creature for this deck.

 

[Thallid Ice Cream Man]

Bloodfire Dwarf would be an alternative to Plague Dogs, especially considering it won't hit the Subterranean Spirit.

 

[Jigglypuff]

Okay, I'm going to comment on the deck some more after playing it a little bit today. I used exactly the same deck list that Mikey listed in the last post (with a Shard Phoenix in for the Crypt Rats and no Moxes).

First, I needed more Infestations. They are absolutely critical to the deck. I dropped a Dismantling Blow for a third.

Second, I never used Soothsaying. Not once. I ended up dropping them and 2 Brainstorms for Mana Leaks.

Third, the mana base was mucho strange. I ended up using all dual lands and a couple of Cities.

After the day, I ended up with:

1 Varchild's War-Riders
1 Questing Phelddagrif
1 Shard Phoenix
4 Oath of Druids
4 Dingus Staff
3 Simoon
3 Dueling Grounds
3 Mogg Infestation
4 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
2 Dissipate
2 Brainstorm
2 Dismantling Blow
2 Congregate
2 Gaea's Blessing
2 City of Brass
4 Tropical Island
4 Savannah
4 Taiga
4 Tundra
4 Plateau

The deck's mana base is still a bug-a-boo. I'm content to leave it as it is and just pray that I'll get the right colors.

(- Steve -)
303.

 

[Mikeymike]

and was it fun to try to get it to work?

I building it now and I'm leaving out the Soothsayings, Moxen, and Sol Ring. I'm sticking more towards your mana base but I'm also going to run 2 Krosan Verge's - they fetch me 2 duals of my choice (all 4 colors right there) and get recycled back into my deck with the Blessings. I'm also thinking of going with Gemstone Mine instead of the City b/c they go back into the library also.

My counter base will be 2 Mana Leaks (just cause they stink late game), 4 Counters, 2 Dismiss (eh, card draw - might just be Dissapate), and 1 Quash (STP). I'm also running 3 Brainstorms.

All the other counts from your deck stay the same for now, although I do have room to work with the Simoon's, the Dingus Staff, and 1 counterspell spot. I will probably have to squeeze in 1 more D. Blow simply for the Disk.

Thanks for building it and giving me the run down . I'll let you know how I do also.

 

[train]

Dropping the cities of brass for gemstone mines and/or reflecting pools is not a bad idea...

Why not Quash - one of the meanest counter mutha's in the game - in place of the leaks???

 

[Mikeymike]

I've got 1 Quash so far, I might add more - I'm just worried that my counters are getting costly (2 Dismiss, 1 Quash). I have a feeling the Leaks will get change, so its likely another will replace it.

I just gold-fished it a few times. The land is a little screwey, but Krosan Verge helps out a lot. W/O the Verge the mana base was only OK. The combo itself was easy to get, but we'll see how it does against a real player.

 

[Mikeymike]

Mana base - The Krosan Verges were VERY good in here, really helped me stabelize my mana (almost always pulled a Trop Island and a Tundra). I might add a 3rd, and probably will. The Gemstone Mines were good, but not great. I usually had time to build up lands where I didn't mind losing them, but this deck likes to have a lot of lands in play and losing them late game actually hurt.

Creatures - 3 was the right number, but the Varchild War-Riders were inferior to the Hippo about 95% of the time. It might not tie up my mana, but the Hippo's ability to gain flying, protect itself and make tokens as an instant (allowing me to combo out with the Staff) made him much more important.

Counters - the Mana Leak was cast once in 6 games, beyond the first few turns it was nearly a dead card. Quash on the other hand is vital to this deck. Disenchant is drawn to this deck, and Quash really helped me avoid seeing them every turn. Also nice in a counter war.

Other questionable counts
3 D.Blows were perfect. 1 more wouldn't hurt, but 3 worked.
3 Simoon - Important for the combo, good in general. Considering cutting 1
3 Brainstorm - this needs to be 4. So important to the deck. Many times last night I wish I had this in my hand.
2 Dismiss - might cut both. Good, but slow. Maybe +1 Quash, +1 Brainstorm
3 Dueling Grounds - Right number, really saved my butt a lot.
4 Dingus Staff - I'd like this to be 3, but they are such a target that it needs to be 4. Plus multiples in play are only better for me.
4 Oath of Druids - 4 are necessary in MP
2 Congregate - right number
3 Mogg Infestation - right number, never a bad card - saved my butt a few times dealing with some nasty flyers including Morphling and a big Thran Golem.

Verdict
-2 Gemstone Mines
-1 War-Riders
-1 Mana Leak
-2 Dismiss
---
+1 Reflecting Pool
+1 Krosan Verge
+2 Quash
+1 Brainstorm
+1 Questing Hippo (foil - oooooo)

Don't like only running 7 counters, but Quash goes a long way since instants were the biggest threat to me all night. We'll see how it works out.

 

[train]

Glad it worked out for you...

Don't get me wrong, but quash is

- one of the meanest counter mutha's in the game -

that was me, haha!

The only other thing I could think of is Null Brooch, but I prefer Quash - it allows you to keep your hand, and gets rid of, usually, 4 cards.

 

[Mikeymike]

Ahhhhh, but look back to my post 40 mins prior to yours and you shall see:

My counter base will be 2 Mana Leaks..., 4 Counters, 2 Dismiss ..., and 1 Quash (STP). I'm also running 3 Brainstorms.

What can I say? Great minds think alike.

 

[Jigglypuff]

I brought this deck out of retirement and played it again. I had to change it around a bit because I don't really get the chance to play MP anymore, so here's the new list.

1 Varchild's War-Riders
1 Questing Phelddagrif
1 Shard Phoenix
1 Vesuvan Doppelganger
4 Oath of Druids
4 Dingus Staff
3 Dueling Grounds
3 Mogg Infestation
3 Congregate
3 Gaea's Blessing
3 Scroll Rack
4 Land Grant
4 Heroes' Reunion
4 Savannah
4 Taiga
4 Plateau
4 Windswept Heath
10 other lands

I needed to speed the deck up a bit because duels are a different animal than MP for this deck. Vesvuan Doppelganger was a cute addition. It usually copied the War-Riders to speed up the kill, but sometimes I copied my opponent's cool creatures. I hope Mikeymike gets a chance to check out the deck again, but he hasn't been here in awhile.

(- Steve -)